Gummy bear firm's reward for man finding lost $4.8 M check 'a bit cheap'

[jswordy]

The reward for returning an almost $5 million lost check to the party it was made out to? Candies.

A man in Germany found a lost check for 4.6 million euros made out to confectionery Haribo received what he thought as a "cheap" thank-you gift of candies, the Bild reported last Thursday.

https://news.yahoo.com/gummy-bear-maker-haribo-rewarded-042016997.html

 

[ratflinger]

Seems fair, it would be different if it had been a bag of cash.

 

[cmason1957]

I am amazed this story even has been reported, other than maybe what they are reporting is the expectation of the person who found the piece of paper, that happened to be a check. It was not going to be cashed by someone else and was essentially useless. They sent him a standard Thank-you package, seems the response was appropriate.

 

[Neb Farmer]

Who doesn't like gummy bears? That was nice of the guy to do the right thing, but why should he get a reward ? Just do the right thing and move on.

 

[sour_grapes]

Who doesn't like gummy bears?

Here are a few:

The horror at 30,000 feet!

See you in hell, Haribo Sugar-Free Gummi Bears

P.S. There are more!

 

[ratflinger]

It took absolutely no effort to expel this demon. Almost immediately, the floodgates of hell were opened and the damned, liquified souls of an entire bag's worth of gummi bears cried as they burned through my sphincter and into the watery abyss below. I had never felt such simultaneous relief and anguish in my life. After 30 more minutes of this, I immediately went home, dug a hole in my backyard, and burned the remaining bag of gummi bears.
I leave with this; do not, I repeat do NOT eat these spawns of Satan. Not only did they cause me to fail my final test, but the anguish I experienced is something I wouldn't wish upon anyone, not even my worst enemy. The only place these god forsaken hell bears belong are buried deep below the Earth's surface.

Must be the sugar-free ones, the normal ones don't bother me so I'll think I'll pass on the sugar-free ones.

 

[jswordy]

As someone who works in public relations, I'll just say this about the situation referenced in the news story: It's not about the status of the check, or how the guy who found it feels, or what was the right reward.

It's about this: You only get one chance to make a good impression. Don't blow it.

 

[ratflinger]

Hope they gave the complainer the sugar-free gummies lol

 

[hounddawg]

been red hots, then I'd of been interested, and to heck with sugar free anything, i even sweeten my salt,
Dawg

 

[BernardSmith]

As someone who works in public relations, I'll just say this about the situation referenced in the news story: It's not about the status of the check, or how the guy who found it feels, or what was the right reward.

It's about this: You only get one chance to make a good impression. Don't blow it.

You nailed it. This was not about returning a check or money to an individual but to a corporation with a large public face. Even if they simply invited the finder to a chat with their PR manager and asked him about his life and so sent him a gift that would have been meaningful to him, the cost to the company would have been tiny compared to the better publicity they would have received ... For the price they spent on those candies, they blew it.

 

[jswordy]

You nailed it. This was not about returning a check or money to an individual but to a corporation with a large public face. Even if they simply invited the finder to a chat with their PR manager and asked him about his life and so sent him a gift that would have been meaningful to him, the cost to the company would have been tiny compared to the better publicity they would have received ... For the price they spent on those candies, they blew it.

Exactly. Think how a check for $500 or $1,000 and a year's supply of Gummi Bears – along with a company statement showing gratitude and saying that Haribo supports people who do the right thing – would have played. I don't care if you're a big multinational company or an individual: You get one shot to make an impression. Don't blow it.

 

[winemaker81]

While in this case the check was worthless to anyone finding it, that's not always the case. It's in any corporation's best interest to encourage good Samaritans to turn in found items instead of keeping them. Sometimes it matters.

Haribo really dropped the ball on this one! If I had been in their PR, I would have jumped on publicly giving this guy $1,000 just for the positive publicity. A TV commercial can easily cost $100,000 to produce, and depending on the market, another $100,000 each time the add is run.